giovedì 28 febbraio 2013

Join us from Monday, March 4 2013 to hear an exciting visit to the contemporary Kaua'i radio dial on the Mailbox program from Radio New Zealand International.

You'll hear KKCR the local community radio station created in direct response to the destruction of Hurricane Iniki some years earlier when local residents wanted a local radio station to stay safe, in touch and connected.

The HHawaii Inc FM station cluster including KJMQ Jamz, KITH Island Radio and KTOH Rooster Country is well represented with audio grabs - KTOH being the current version of the original AM station on the island.

KQNG and KUAI are the two AM stations on the island, which is about 100 miles from Oahu, where the Hawaiian state capitol of Honolulu is located.

KQNG is also known as KONG radio, and Kaua'i has featured in many well known films over the last 50 years or so, including a King Kong ape movie, and several with Elvis Presley.

There are a growing number of stations on the island, which has a small population of under 70,000 people, and an economy centered on tourism, with just one working sugar cane plantation remaining.

It's an unusual opportunity to cruise along the Kaua'i radio dial without buying an air ticket there, and the range of radio stations serving the small community is fascinating. We hope you'll join us.

You can listen directly via shortwave radio from RNZI in New Zealand, or audio on demand [for the following month] with full details of current broadcast frequencies [both DRM and analog] and times possible for your area as well as audio downloads at www.rnzi.com.

Join us from Monday, March 4 2013 as we enjoy this special visit to the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i and are entertained by local radio DJ's and hear some wonderful music.

We have great radio memories about a visit to KQNG and KUAI on Kaua'i and other Hawaiian radio memories at our website www.radioheritage.comavailable every day 24/7, and all for free.

You can also use our Pacific Asian Listener Radio Guides at our global website www.radioheritage.com to find today's AM radio stations in the Pacific. Use our Google Search to find our many exclusive features about broadcasting in Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

All visits to our website and access to our features and services are always free, and have been for almost 10 years. Every donation of 50c makes it possible for someone else to enjoy the website, so please think about paying it forward for others.

Two different transmitters are on the air and I am convinced in this:
0400-1600 on 11510 KCH 250 kW / 116 deg. poor to fair signal in Sofia
1600-2000 on 11510 secret/hidden site POWERFUL signal in Sofia 55555+

** BOLIVIA. 4716.68 approx., Feb 25 at 0110, best signal in the 4700s tonight is here, presumed R. Yatun Ayllu Yura, in Yura, allegedly 1 kW. Some music is audible, while the rest are mostly carriers. Previously rounded to 4717v, this time I measure it as closely as possible using the 40-Hz per click method on the DX-398 on the porch with battery power, after calibrating it to WWV on 5000.000. Winter storm with thunder approaching from the TX panhandle is producing some lightning crashes on these lower frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. Re my previous report, Jorge Freitas points out that Rdif. Macapá is in Amapá state, not Acre, which I got by referring to the `Carmen Miranda Report` in DXLD 13-08 instead of the WRTH 2013. Corrected:

4915, Feb 24 at 0659, music and soon ID including ``4915, onda curta``, a website in .br, at 0700 ``Macapaense`` and ``Macapá``, so I am confident it`s not R. Daqui but really the other 4915, Rdif. Macapá, ZYF360 in Amapá. Signal is second only to Pará on 4885, both 24 hours, tho Macapá supposedly has a 25 to 10 kW power advantage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH. 9490, Feb 25 at 0102, the RMI R. República transmission is back to full strength, way over jamming and with good modulation; so if the plus/minus 116 kHz and other spurs are still radiating, they should be audible tonight. However, 9606 is blocked by bigsig from WHRI on its single night broadcast UT Mondays only, and I can`t detect it in the sideband. 9374 on the lower side is in the clear with no blob detectable. There is also some quite different weak OTH radar noise pulsing circa 9360-9385.

However2, the fundamental has another problem, perhaps exacerbated by good propagation: splashing out to plus/minus 23 kHz or so, i.e. gradually declining out to 9467-9513. I would not want to be another station within that range.

Same transmitter previously put out same 116 kHz separation spurs from very strong 5960 after 0200 for the NHK Japanese relay, so checking around that at 0228 UT Feb 25: 6076 and 5844 are clear, nor can I find the +36 kHz spur around 5996, nor the -71 spur around 5889. But there is a lot of other noise on the band, especially around the other former spurspot 5924 as well as 5996.

Overall, as far as I can tell, the GUF spurs have been suppressed, perhaps as of Feb 23 or so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980.0, Feb 25 at 0059, DentroCuban Jamming Command is messing up the frequency with noise pulses, unlike many nights lately; can`t even hear the CNR1 jammer closing timesignal at 0100*, but the R. Chaski carrier remains audible with BFO under the noise, and this time as expected, it cuts off at 0106:58.5* which is 5 seconds later than last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 4593.5-USB, Air Force MARS net encountered Feb 25 at 0055; NCS seems AFA1TN (or TM?), about to close it with the group call NES2 given fonetikaly unlike his own call.

Googling on AFA1TN leads to a Silent Key:Robert JoyceAFA1TNW8JBSJuly 6, 2005at http://www.marsregionone.org/SK.htmlwhile AFA1TM leads to no significant top hits, so maybe AFA1TN call has now been reassigned (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9605, Feb 25 at 0102, WHRI is on strong with some pseudo-network news on the blizzard about to strike us, as I am checking for the Guiana French [q.v.] spurblob around 9606. WHRI 9605 usage is registered, and so far heard, only on UT Mondays, tho probably tested one other night with KBS World Radio in Spanish to S America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5050-USB, Feb 25 at 0109 check, WWRB is on again in pure USB, but g.h. of the moment is the one with lots of background noise keeping the SB modulated even his during pauses. At this point it will be more newsworthy if it goes back to AM, or goes off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 4849, Feb 25 at 0057, again tonight I am hearing a het or tone test estimated close to 1 kHz with the DX-398 on the porch, where without continuous tuning it`s harder to tell than on the FRG-7 whether this is a DSB tone or a het on one side or the other, but I think it`s only the low side vs carrier on 4850. After 0059 obscured by squeal and splash from 4840 WWCR, but barely audible at 0101. Again PBS Urumqi and AIR Kohima are the two broadcasters listed on 4850, but a utility could also be involved. Would appreciate listeners in Asia checking around this time, and also in Latin America in case it`s something from there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

[all logs in this report, except the Brazilian correxion, were on the DX-398 with random wire around eaves of porch; mild temp ~lo 50s]

Note: except for Feb 25 and PERU 5980 logs, all the later Feb 26 entries below are during 10+hour power outage from 0411 to 1419 UT due to blizzard, ice on lines, etc., so noise level is much lower, using FRG-7`s 8 x D cell battery pack or in mostly MW cases, the usual DX-398 on its 4 X AA cells.

The main longwire for the FRG-7 had been replaced a few months ago, so did not break despite icing about an inch in diameter. There were some strange weak birdies on the FRG-7, however, perhaps due to battery getting weak, not having been replenished for years.

Altho we have a good stock of batteries, and no telling how long the outage would last (hopefully less than a few weeks like a few years ago!), figured it was time to dust off the Baygen Freeplay and wind it up. Initially OK, then it makes huge noise louder than any audio it can play: seems like the spring broke. Now what? Good thing we are not depending on it. It does have a jack for DC.

More breakage: the ice load on our main TV antenna broke most of the VHF elements, altho the smaller and much sturdier UHF part seems to be OK; other TV antennas were further damaged. Snow total here was roughly 10 inches, and winds were quite high at times, at one point causing sparx along our powerline altho didn`t go off quite yet.

As soon as we got power back, could see the situation from OKC TV stations reporting from Enid, via the DTV on the broken antenna, while Suddenlink digital cable remained black; their legacy analog cable of lower channels already came back about the same time as internet.

We were lucky to get power back after only 10 hours, as 3 hours after that at 17 UT, OG&E map still showed 20K out in Enid, from a peak of 22K. It was down to only 10K a couple hours later. Some reports said at worst, the entire city of Enid was dark, as well as most of the little towns around it (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. 11750, Feb 26 at 0726, repeated announcements with continuous music if not an IS, ``This is HCJB Australia; our programs on this frequency will commence shortly``. 0730 HCJB Global sign on in English with UT timecheck, into an hymn. Good signal at a time I am usually asleep (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 4755, Feb 26 at 0715, very poor signal with talk in uncertain language; 0744 now it sounds like a Brazilian, i.e. R. Imaculada Conceição, rather than MICRONESIA, q.v. The YB-400 which I conveniently use to detect off-frequencies is not batteried up, as it normally stays in one spot with its wallwart. With that I QRT but if I wake up around 1000 I will go after the South American sign-ons --- No, not back until 1130 when there is still some interesting stuff, e.g. ECUADOR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11885-11905 approx., extremely distorted FMy Brazilian music, peaking about 11895; not strong, but first time I`ve heard it tnx to lack of local line noise. It`s totally out of order R. Brasil Central, Goiânia, as recently IDed by Jorge Freitas et al. in Brazil and also reported by Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal. Missing from its proper frequency 11815. Music continued past hourtop until 0704 unreadable announcement. Not audible by 0727 when all the 25m Brazilians have weakened (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL [and non]. 11925v, Feb 26 at 0651, good modulation in Brazilian Portuguese discussion, i.e. R. Bandeirantes. No het tho we know it`s off-frequency, until 0659 when there`s now a LAH which would be from Turkey just signed on, after a one-hour break following BBC Seychelles until 0600. By 0727, much weaker like 11765. Meanwhile I checked the other Bandeirantes frequency, 9645.3v, at 0657, but no het on Vatican choral music, so conclude it is off, unlike another bigsig from Brasil on 9665, Voz Missionária.

BTW, Zacharias Liangas points out that Google produces a spurious translation of Bandeirantes as Girl Scouts! See DXLD 13-08 for discussion of what it really means (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 1650, Feb 26 at 0535 UT in the mix of English and two Spanish, I hear a S Asian song in null of Denver, which I think can only be from CINA in Mississauga, Ont., ``Seena Radio`` with 680 watts night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. 4782-, Feb 26 at 1132, I awake too late for most of the S Americans on 60m despite my very rare lack of local line noise due to icy power outage, but still a good signal here with news in Spanish vs CODAR; in fact, it`s the SSOB except Cuba 5025 (skipping WWCR 4840 of course). 1135 timecheck for 6:35, local adstring with lots of addresses mentioned but no city heard, as everyone knows that already; 1137, 6:37 TC, ``decreto del gobierno ecuatoriano`` about something, so it`s surely R. Oriental, Tena, Napo, HCLE7, which I`ve also heard in the early evenings, irregular per WRTH and the frequency varies considerably. Weakening at 1153 and gone by 1159.

Per http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/tena.html today`s sunrise in Tena was 1120 UT, and of course it varies little, only to 1113 one month from now and 1106 three months from now. That should mean it`s slightly to the north side of the Equator while most of Ecuador is south of it. No, Tena is really about 1 degree south, beyond Quito, so is gaisma.com inaccurate or is there something else to explain this disparity? Every log a potential learning experience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. 6050, Feb 26 at 1203, HCJB is still in, as expected on a higher band, while HCLE7 on 60m has just faded out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH. 11740, Feb 26 at 0646, 0701, 0726 and 0735 checks, poor strength open carrier with hum, which I strongly suspect is at least the exciter at MSY still on the air after the NHK relay at 0500-0530 which was very strong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 4750, Feb 26 at 1131, fair signal in Indonesian, still audible at 1330 with conversation, one side on the phone, so RRI Makassar is back. It had been missing since Feb 20, and Ron Howard reported it still off Feb 24. But Atsunori Ishida says it resumed Feb 25. Nothing audible here from anything else around 4750: Bangladesh, China or China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 730, Feb 26 at 0622 UT, Morse code goes by a few times, but I don`t copy it completely in the QRM: not RR as in CUBA. Must be TDW, which XEX DF uses as a non-ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MICRONESIA. 4755, Feb 26 at 1130, after 3.75 hours of sound sleep tnx to gas heating during electricty outage, I turn the FRG-7 back on to the frequency last tuned, which was probably BRAZIL, q.v., altho 0745 was not too early for PMA The Cross to propagate too. Now it`s way too late for Brazil, as I do have a weak signal from something; at 1154 it`s a hymn, but at 1158 it`s gone.

This neatly/nearly matches Ron Howard`s info that they now have an automatic system to turn off the SW transmitter, as he heard Feb 24 until 1159* called "DTMF tones" (dual-tone multi-frequency signaling) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Shortly after power around Enid goes off, circa 0430 UT Feb 26, checking to see which stations are on or not:

Of the major secular stations: 530, `K530AM` Vance AFB off [don`t they have 10 watts of aux power?] 960, KGWA on1390, KCRC off1640, KOAG open carrier [and still thus by sunrise]

** OKLAHOMA. 960, Feb 26 at 0600-0605 UT, KGWA produces another Fox-hole of dead air, having managed to keep power at studio and transmitter during power outage affecting ``all`` of Enid according to some reports. Just the usual stuff audible underneath, but no hum this time, which must be significant. Maybe they are on generators instead of usual OG&E power, somehow not hummy.

Frequent chex of KGWA, however, find it only in automated national programming, not a word about the local situation, including not before 7 am, 1300 UT when ``J. Curtis Huckleberry`` usual morning man comes on and fills us in; along with Alan Klepper, his counterpart at KOFM, who has nothing to do since 103.1 is still off the air.

Thus KGWA was our only local source of info about this emergency, altho it took them some 7 hours to get around to it (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, Feb 26 at 0105 it`s not feasible to monitor from the porch with DX-398 as usual due to blizzard, so I see if I can hear the R. Chaski carrier on the inside rig, FRG-7 with ice-encrusted longwire: yes, vs high noise level, just barely audible carrier which goes off at 0107:03.5*, having surpassed the 0107 mark by another five seconds (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 13845, Feb 25 at 2125, WWCR squealing along with DGS, sounds just like the squeal surrounding 13830, Feb 25 at 2125, WEWN Spanish. I bet they have the same type transmitters, in need of fresh cards in the modulator, but they can`t figure out they have a problem or how to fix it. Being high-pitched, the squeal is louder if you tune slightly to the side of either frequency.

** U S A. 790, Feb 26 at 1226, KNST is dominant, with promo. Tucson AZ station is 5/0.5 kW, so should be on night power; Feb sunrise is not until 1415; March 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1110, Feb 26 at 0558 UT, soft jazz in null of KFAB making SAH. None of the other nighttime US stations look likely in the NRC AM Log, so switch to the IRCA Mexican log for most likely candidate there, XEWR in Ciudad Juárez, 500 watts at night, but there are several others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1390, Feb 26 at 1240 UT with local KCRC Enid off due to power outage, it`s time to DX anything else on 1390 --- but it`s generally frustrating with a graveyard-like pileup of equally weak signals. At this point I do hear a promo mentioning 107.5, seems to be east/west. No sure match in the NRC AM Log; Googling leads to a relationship between WGRB Chicago IL and 107.5, such as in a crossover person: http://www.inspiration1390.com/pages/drea.htmlbut that`s a bit too tenuous to base an ID on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1390, Feb 26 at 1241 UT in the absence of local KCRC Enid, something(s) from Arkansas: ``serving the heart of Arkansas for 100 years``. But neither of the two 1390 AR stations is anywhere near the `heart` i.e. Little Rock --- KFFK Rogers in the NW corner, and KDQN DeQueen in the SW corner. Googling on that phrase is inconclusive, maybe applying to United Way or a children`s hospital, not necessarily as of 2013y.

At 1242 UT, Arkansas Federal Credit Union offers free app; and 433-1010 is the traffic number at The Buzz Radio Network.

OK, that number for traffic center (not clear if it means road reports, or booking commercial time!) traces to http://www.point941.com/contact/default.aspxso this AM station must be related to that FM station in Little Rock.

This site http://www.buzzradionetwork.com/merely lists a series of callsigns which don`t go anywhere, ``KAGL | KDRS | KFFA | KGPQ | KNAS | KNWA | KREB | KSAR | KTLO | KTTG | KXJK``not including KDQN or KFFK, but does include KFFA --- could that be related to KFFK? Not geographically: KFFA is FM 103.1 way over on the Mississippi River in Helena. KNWA is 1600 in Harrison/Bellefonte, not too far from Rogers but not the same market, apparently unrelated.

Another little problem with the 1390 Arkansawyers is that both are Spanish per the NRC AM Log and all this was in English. KDQN-FM is English, AM is Spanish. Can`t find a real website for KFFK.

I give up trying to sort this out and decide which station(s) I really heard. Perhaps someone with an intimate knowledge of Arkansas radio can unravel it, at least confirm which 1390(s) be in Spanish and which in English, or both (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9410-9445, Feb 25 at 2128-2129, wandering banshee blob is back, slowing moving upward with decreasing and then increasing hets against fixed broadcasters on 9410, 9420, 9435, 9445. This is what was previously associated with the defective All India Radio transmitter on 9470; among the victims is AIR GOS on 9445 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9578 approx., Feb 26 at 0737, as I am checking out Morocco vs Gabon? See UNIDENTIFIED 9580, I also find a very weak SSB signal on the low side of Médi Un, no doubt an intruder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9580, Feb 26 at 0735, something very weak is hetting 9579.1 MOROCCO in French. Can it be GABON, which has been missing the last few days at various chex? Australia doesn`t start until 0800, and Aoki, EiBi show the only other 9580 at this hour is Tibet, in English, in fact --- except this is Tuesday, the one day of the week when this and many other ChiCom SW transmitters take a siesta or maintenance break at 0700-0930! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

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FRANCE Again strange frequencies of Radio France Internationale in French
1700-1758 on 17853.35 ISS 500 kW / 155 deg to CeAf // 17860 from same tx!!!
1800-1858 on 11996.45*ISS 500 kW / 204 deg to NWAf // 13740 new from Feb.24
1900-1958 on 12001.00*ISS 500 kW / 185 deg to WCAf // 13740 new from Feb.24
* but no signal on fundamental 11995 which was changed to 13740 from Feb.24
No problem on other freqs of RFI 04-09, 12-13, 20-22, checking on Feb.24-25

lunedì 25 febbraio 2013

** CANADA. 1610, Feb 25 at 0702 UT, some Spanish is making it thru the IBOC noise from 1600 KATZ MO, so it`s reduced by monitoring in LSB (yes, LSB since the IBOC peaks at +13 from the main channel). The IBOC noise fades in a regular pattern as if it is subject to subaudible heterodyning, but maybe it`s really the 1610 carrier which is fading up and down. Apparently a drama, and presumed CHHA Toronto, Voces Latinas. The SAH could be from much weaker CJWI Montreal, further on in the same direxion. This log on the FRG-7 with fixed E-W longwire (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GABON [non]. 9579+, Feb 25 at 0620, once again, I am only hearing MOROCCO, talk in Arabic, and no het, no carrier from Africa Number One on 9580 --- could it be gone for good? Is anyone else hearing it anywhen? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO [and non]. 960, Feb 25 at 0600-0605 UT, local KGWA Enid continues to provide a Fox-hole of dead air most nights --- well, almost, except for that nasty hum. Carefully nulling it on the DX-398 by the window, from long experience I recognize three stations coming thru: at 0602, 4-descending `XEW` chimes really from XEK Nuevo Laredo; then at 0603 harmonica blues music presumably from WABG Greenwood MS.

And also ABC News from KMA Shenandoah IA --- the latter playing a clip of Oklahoma`s reaxionary governess Mary Fallin (at least: she`s anti-smoking), which is very strange, since I remember hearing a clip from her exactly 24 hours earlier altho did not bother to log it then. Could ABC have been playing back a day-old newscast? Or does Fallin get a regular spot on the midnight report? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9955, Feb 25 at 0623, WRMI with some pulse jamming is relaying ABC TV news! Terry Moran with his emotional reporting from inside Syria, sounds like something previously on `Nightline`. I think I know which side this journalist is on, but it is pretty hard to be objective when bloody opthalmologist-dictator Assad is concerned. Would you trust your eyesight to that creature? Then found same a few words behind on 3185 WWRB, so it`s really Brother Scare who is playing this clip to serve his own wacky purposes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 990, Feb 25 at 1306 UT, CBS World News Roundup with report from Larry Miller in London; 1308 ID as AM 990, a bit of music and then Memphis TN traffic, 1310 weather from WREG-TV, expecting to escape the snowstorm further west in OK et al. AM-990 is really KWAM, 10 kW day power. CBS WNR did not formally close and I had the feeling AM-990 cut away from it; network newscasts are far too cooperative in allowing affiliates to do that. Enough, already of news from the world beyond US (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15180, Feb 25 at 1541, big open carrier. Nothing scheduled here now, anytime between 1457 and 2200. I would have guessed a characteristic VOA GB tuneup far in advance of scheduled transmission, except there aren`t any on 15180: still could be that, as some frequencies are for test-only, to avoid QRMing other stations on the ultimate channel. WHRI is listed here daily at 22-23 by the big four references, but I only hear it on Fridays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

domenica 24 febbraio 2013

** ALGERIA [and non]. 7295, Feb 24 at 0649, Qur`an, no doubt the RTA relay via Issoudun, FRANCE, which so far in the B-12 season had been running only at 05-06, followed by RFI Hausa at 0600-0630*.

Feb 24 is the off-season change date for RFI scheduling, moving many of its own broadcasts one or two bands higher, and this obviously also affects relays of Algeria --- but as of 18 Feb, NO *240213 dates are in HFCC for RTA, while there are many for RFI itself. Nothing on 5865 now, which until today had been running RTA at 04-07. No doubt there are many more shifts to rediscover.

The OLD RTA (or rather initialed TDA) entries in HFCC B-12 all show effective from *281012 to 300313* --- 04-07 5865, 05-06 7295; 18-19 11955, 19-21 7390 & 11775, 21-22 9395, 21-23 7495; all via Issoudun. Note that when two frequencies are on, they have usually been carrying two separate services, some including news in French on the hour.

** BRAZIL. 4915, Feb 24 at 0659, music and soon ID including ``4915, onda curta``, a website in .br, at 0700 ``Macapaense`` and ``Macapá``, so I am confident it`s not R. Daqui but really the other 4915, Rdif. Macapá, ZYF360 in Acre. Signal is second only to Pará on 4885, both 24 hours, tho Macapá supposedly has a 25 to 10 kW power advantage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

12220.0, Feb 24 at 1419, RHC in `Amigos de Cuba` show, very poor, but heard on two receivers and // synchronized with 11860. This one does not compute as a leapfrog mixing product among any of the 25mb frequencies; nor is RHC supposed to be on 6110, which could harmonicize here and indeed nothing audible there at 1428 check.

** ECUADOR. 4780v, Feb 24 at 0056, unlike 24 hours earlier, no signal at all around this frequency from suspected R. Oriental; on Feb 10, Rich D`Angelo had that signing off already at 2359* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH [and non]. 9490, Feb 24 at 0104, R. República is back to VG signal after weakened last night, and furthermore, can`t find any spurblobs on 9374 or 9606, so maybe the replacement part has finally arrived and been installed at MSY? Can`t be sure, pending further chex of this, 5960 and 11740 output at other hours.

** NETHERLANDS [non]. 9450, Feb 24 at 0104, Mighty KBC via BULGARIA has fair signal in music with flutter. Goodbye to this site and frequency, as from March it moves to 7375 via Nauen, Germany, still 0000-0200 UT Sundays, expecting better results. Will someone assume Croatia is back? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1340, Feb 24 at 1346 UT, NBC Sports Radio update as it`s late enough for KGHM Midwest City to reclaim the graveyard on groundwave; 1350 ad for something in Norman at http://www.jdmc.org i.e. the J. D. McCarty Center for children with developmental disabilities; non-ID as 1340-The-Ghame, back to sports talk referencing fox.com --- so with the proliferation of silly sports networks, KGHM has added NBC to its main network, Fox Sports Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980.0, Feb 24 at 0100, CNR1 jammer timesignal and off, while China/Cuba 5990 is still on with splatter. It soon cuts off, but still splatter from further afield covers all but the carrier from R. Chaski, Urubamba. Is it from RHC 6000? No, the splat is talk while RHC is music. Best bet then is from WWCR 5935, also extremely strong. WWCR can put a mixing product directly on 5980, a leap from 5890 over 5935 another 45 kHz higher, but 5890 is not on yet. I can still copy the exact time R. Chaski cuts its carrier: 0106:53.5* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9330-CUSB & 7490-AM, Feb 24 at 0112, `Thru the Bible` on both WBCQ frequencies with contact info in Pasadena CA, etc. Using the DX-398 only on the porch, can`t be positive they are // and synchronized, but certainly seem to be so, switching back and forth. These two transmitters supposedly carry two different services from Good Friends Radio Network; and from next week/month, 7490 is supposed to introduce some new secular programming on Saturday nights (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3390-USB, UT Sun Feb 24 at 0101 as I am quickly scanning down the 90m band for broadcast signals, here`s a Navy MARS net, someone in Michigan, over to NNN0APN in Indiana.

** U S A. 1800-2000 kHz, Feb 24 at 0702 UT, tuning across the 160m band, it`s crammed with SSB hams, unlike usual here and there. They are in a contest, exchanging signal reports from one state to another. If there were any foreign stations, they would be hard to find. Logged only one without noting the frequency, WW8OH, which ARRL/FCC lookup shows:CENTRAL OHIO OPERATORS KLUB EXTRA - NOVICE, WW8OH (Club), PO Box: 4,THORNVILLE, OH 43076 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 690, Feb 24 at 0627 UT, open carrier/dead air presumed from dominant KGGF Coffeyville KS, with two other stations underneath, one with C2C, which would be KTSM El Paso TX rather than WOKV Jaxonville FL, the only two 690s on affiliate list (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1200, Feb 24 at 1353 UT, single signal with promo for something Sunday at 2 pm ``on Faith 1200, KFNW``, then an Aleluya song. Must have been in a WOAI fade, as it`s soon coming back with a SAH of about 6 Hz. KFNW is 50/13 kW U4 from West Fargo ND. Day power starts at 1330 UT in Feb, 1245 in March (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1280, Feb 24 at 1336 UT, in KSOK Kansas null, YL in Spanish with local weather somewhere, ``a través de Qué Bueno``, on to music. That slogan clinches it as KBNO in Denver CO, 5/5 kW, in NRC AM Log as ``La Cadena Nueva Qué Bueno``. Note the masculine bueno, instead of the usual buena in station slogans. But what does it refer to as masculine? Maybe it`s only to match the callsign, someone else having KBNA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1280, Feb 24 at 1356 UT, encounter a station axually playing our national anthem, but it can`t be a sign-on, from KSOK Arkansas City KS. It`s a country version by an OM soloist --- but boo! Faded down before finished at 1358, outro as a ``country classic``, and then a CBS News Update. ``Country Classics`` is the slogan of KSOK, and NRC AM Log showed it affiliated only with ABC.

If I owned a radio station, especially a SW one, I would play the ``Star Spangled Banner`` at least twice a day, whether signing on/off or not, and in a different version from one time to the next. There must be scores of them recorded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1320, Feb 24 at 1338 UT, Spanish balada music, and signal growing, roughly east-west; and at 1342 in its null, a different Spanish music station, roughly north-south; by 1344, the E/W station is being overtaken by the Oklahoman, KCLI Clinton, which is the off-frequency one causing a LAH --- yes reconfirmed at 1800 UT noon, KCLI is on the lo side.

Consulting the NRC AM Log, the only two SS around here do fit this pattern:KRDD Roswell NM, 1000/188 watts, non-direxional day and night (oh oh, official February sunrise is not until 1345 UT; 1315 in March)KXYZ Houston TX, 5000/5000 watts, non-direxional days, but also ETHnic, and I think usually heard in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 4850, Feb 24 at 0058, either a het or a tone test where we usually hear Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, East Turkistan in Kazakh service, which should be amid a morning broadcast, not testing. If there were two signals, the only other broadcaster would be AIR Kohima. Aoki has no morning span for it, but Eibi does, at 0000-0415. Too much else going on to stay with it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6185, Feb 23 at 2211, open carrier. Suspect it`s XEPPM already, as in Aoki & EiBi there is nothing scheduled this hour, nor in HFCC except for an imaginary 10-kW Malaysian. EiBi does have both China Huayi and XEPPM starting at 2230, while as in Aoki, XEPPM officially does not start until 0000 and no listing there for Huayi in the local mornings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

sabato 23 febbraio 2013

** CUBA. 15510+, Feb 23 at 1400, RHC IS and ID weak but clear as I tune across, slightly offset, and doesn`t go away with attenuation, so apparently a real spur out of the 15340 transmitter; doesn`t compute either as a mix with 15230 which is at the other site, anyway, an echo apart (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GUIANA FRENCH, TURKEY, USA

This encourages me to check 60m: 4750, NO RRI here, just JBA carrier, Bangladesh or China or China. Ron Howard reported yesterday that both RRI and Bangladesh were absent.

4870, however, at 1325 Feb 23 has a LAH --- low audible heterodyne between two carriers, not much, but the TADIL-A bonker on the lo side is even weaker, so not a problem now. Per Aoki, the only two 4870 broadcasters are RRI Wamena, and from 1330, AIR Nepali service, Delhi-Kingsway site. Not bad for 300 vs 100,000 watts, respectively, and Wamena is always reported off-frequency low, as 4869.93 by Ron Howard on Feb 21.

** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. 11635, Feb 23 at 0102, KBSWR in Spanish about Seul, fair signal via GUIANA FRENCH and with characteristic lite hum. Still here rather than 9605 tested from unknown site a week ago, so decided against that? BTW, someone observed that programming on 9605 and 11635 did not match, further evidence that 9605 was not GUF. But see also GUIANA FRENCH.

15575, Feb 23 at 1339, KBSWR, English to ``North`` America (or BBC?) is a JBA carrier, unlike its surprise audibility yesterday, so did not expect to hear `Worldwide Friendship`; however, next check at 1404 KBS was fairly audible in Korean (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980.0, Feb 23 at 0100, noise level even on the subfreezing porch is very high, altho unseems jamming, so I can barely hear a pip as the CNR1 jammer signs off. Only with offset BFO can I continue to hear the R. Chaski carrier and time its cutoff tonight at 0106:48.5 as it closes in on 0107 which will be attained in a triday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [and non]. 21540, Feb 23 at 1448, REE is still on and QRMing KUWAIT, altho some days it`s off before 1500.

REE continues to run 17595 on Sat and Sun mornings only from 1300(?), obviously on NAm antenna with bigsig, tho you will not find that in schedules such as Aoki, or even from REE itself. There is no signal at all on weekdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TIBET [non]. 7414-, Feb 23 at 1329-1330* check, still awful roaring blob of distortion, little program modulation detectable, i.e. V. of Tibet, Chinese via Tajikistan or somewhere. What in the world are transmitter operators thinking, when they let something like this go on the air day after day, as in too many other cases as well? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY [and non]. 15350, Feb 23 at 1341, VOT with beautiful but sad Turkish song by YL in mandatory very minor key; 1342 announcement and another sad song by OM. At first clear of RHC 15340 splatter, but now its signal is building and starting to bother: not off the air unlike yesterday, when Turkey was too weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1657 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 webcast, UT Sat Feb 23 starting just before 0230, following some filler after an `AWWW` ending earlier; and also confirmed on 5110v-CUSB at 0257 check.

Our ``best`` remaining airing on WRMI is Saturday 1600: checked Feb 23 at 1622, JBA carrier, and noise level is slightly higher on 9955 than adjacent 9950 & 9960, so apparently some weak jamming is also running. Presumably WRMI can be heard with much better signal on its 160-degree azimuth from Hialeah toward the Caribbean and South America, but I rarely get any reports from there. Presumably2 WRMI is keeping on this beam only, despite 24/7 transmissions, 65.5% dedicated to Brother Scare, as the enlightenment of The Last Day Prophet of God must go forth unto all the world.

** U S A. 15825, Saturday Feb 23 at 1405, WWCR with `Martha Garvin`s Musical Memories`, and crosstalk underneath: not // 13845 DGS, nor the other playout of MM on 7490; and fourth transmitter is not on 9980 yet this day of week. So that leaves 1300 WNQM as presumed source of mixture, their MW station at same site. At least there are no modulation spike spurs today in the 15650 area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VIETNAM [and non]. 11605, Feb 23 at 1353, good open carrier, already with whoop-whoop siren jamming, both sides warming up for RFA`s Vietnamese hour at 1400 via TAIWAN. Altho annoying, this kind of jamming doesn`t really block the offensive signals as heard here; how bad is it inside Vietnam? Are these sirens intended for groundwave around a city or cities? It`s 708 miles or 1140 km between Hanoi and Saigon, so the north and south could jam each other effectively at a good skip distance on 25m. However, we never hear more than one siren transmitter at a time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 4779.88 approx., Feb 23 at 0057, Andean music has better signal than 4775 R. Tarma, Perú or any of the others below 4800 --- 4790, 4747, 4717. Probably R. Oriental, ECUADOR, which is usually closer to or even above 4781. But does it vary down to here?

Note this from 2011y: ``Bob [Wilkner] and I heard a similar Spanish speaking UNID on 4779.87 on Sep 02, 06, 07, 12 and 13 between 2255 and 0218 UT. R Tacana, Tumupasa, Bolivia or R Oriental, Tena, Ecuador? Best 73, Anker [Petersen]``. R. Tacana has not been reported in a long time now, presumed inactive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

venerdì 22 febbraio 2013

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Feb 22, ``Argentine Antarctica Day`` has finally arrived, but no show of even a JBA carrier from LRA36, which might have reactivated for the occasion, at chex 1342, 1408-1413; so much for that. How about some news from Argentina about RNASG`s latest plans? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 15330, Feb 22 at 1402, only jamming noise, but by 1404, R. Martí has come on late mostly atop the jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non]

** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, Feb 22 at 1344, KBS World Radio`s rescheduled English to ``North America`` direct at 13-14, ex 12-13 via defunct Canada 9650, is finally audible!! First time since it started in November, on 81 degree antenna which is really aimed at Hawaii and Buenos Aires. M&W discussing whether S Korea should go nuclear in power and weapons, in response to N Korea. No sign of BBC co-channel, but a slight SAH appeared at 1359, as KBS wrapped up English, ``Korea`s flagship international broadcaster`` plugging webcasts and other platforms; 1400 theme music and opening Korean language hour; this fades down a lot in the next few minutes.

It`s to be expected that approaching equinoxial/springtime conditions will audiblize this transmission which has been totally useless all winter; but could have been a fluke and not likely to be reliable daily. Will it be there 24 hours later on Saturday for `Worldwide Friendship` including DX news? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KURDISTAN [non]. 11510, Feb 22 at 1426, another great concert of Kurdish vocal music from V. of Kurdistan; brief announcement at 1432, more music to 1500. Good signal with lite fading, via PRIDNESTROVYE. Much weaker at 1557 as I am again monitoring for evidence of site change: no break in transmission, but signal seems to surge a bit at 1559, and this hour the timesignal is only 6 seconds late after 1600! I had BFO on and it was really too weak anyway to hear whether there was any overlap in audio. Ivo Ivanov says circa 1600 it now changes to the Kostinbrod, BULGARIA site until 2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, Feb 22 at 1330, carrier here with slight wobble, traces of modulation vs noise level, presumably can only be NBC East New Britain, Rabaul. Tuned in too late, 19 minutes after sunrise already; another carrier on 3325 which could be PNG or Indonesia. Australia 120m frequencies were also detectable.

This led me to check the 75m frequencies for PNG: amid heavy QRhaM, carriers detectable on 3905 and 3915 at 1335-1337, weaker than the Korean radio war jamming on 3912 and incomparably weaker than Japan 3925, which the hams sensibly avoid.

Those two carriers could have been AM hams, but while I listened did not interrupt. Only broadcaster on 3905 is NBC New Ireland, Kavieng; and on 3915 only one is Radio Fly, Kinunga, per Aoki (BBC Singapore is 21-24 UT only), but I`ve seen no reports of Fly since October, so presumed inactive (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9955, Feb 22 at 0643 and 1337 chex, Brother Scare vs Cuban jamming. I can`t think of two ``services`` that deserve each other more. If the DentroCubans paid any attention to what they are really jamming, the 110 hours per week of BS on WRMI might help to clear out the jamming by the end of May, but don`t count on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 11680, Feb 21 at 2058, REE IS, 2100 opening Portuguese; recheck at 2154, closing with full schedule including the 1830 broadcast on ``17850 to North America``, which was the Costa Rica relay, gone since last November! Is no one paying attention? After one REE IS, cut off at 2156:45* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 12095, Feb 22 at 1349, BBCWS clashing with assertive gospel huxter in unknown language. Aoki and HFCC show that BBC tolerates a collision at 10-14 from FEBC Bocaue, Philippines, in Laotian languages toward the WNW, 280 degrees at the moment, while BBC at 06-15 is 15 degrees from SOUTH AFRICA --- which means the beams cross over Ethiopia. Yet BBC complained to the FCC about WTWW on 12100, forcing it to shift to 12105 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 11840, fair via Lampertheim, GERMANY, Feb 22 at 1518, VOA `Border Crossings` request show in English, inexplicably inserting an announcement about it in Croatian! That language is not even on the list at http://www.voanews.com/#so not on any platform, unlike Serbian, Macedonian and ``Bosnian``.

Lest we consider VOA first among equals, WRTH 2013 lists all the other BBG ``stations`` before it under USA, or is it just a matter of alfabetization?

Larry London`s shtick at the moment is ``most annoying songs`` according to someone`s survey, so playing in full #1, Celine`s Titanic tune, which I feel is beautiful and really moving, altho would not want to hear it every day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

WWRB was again in pure USB only on 5050 at 0057 & 0253 chex UT Friday Feb 22, during gospel huxter with so much hum, the USB never went silent during long pauses. Retune 0426 in preparation for WORLD OF RADIO nominally at 0430: now there are Bible stories if not quotations, with continuous musical background, and this keeps going past 0430, also on // 3195-AM, no WOR! Pauses every so often as a new chapter of something is introduced, 21, then 22 at 0440, etc. Finally at 0442, Dave comes on apologizing for WOR delay due to ``computer problems``, again, and WOR playback finally starts at 0442.6. How many listeners gave up before then? Do not! Also on webcast, but as always, that cuts to KJV Bible at 0500 no matter what, while the two SW frequencies do stay on late past 0500, still at 0504+ and presumably to the conclusion of WOR circa 0511.

** U S A. 7506.4, Feb 22 at 0252, WRNO gospel huxter with good modulation now; there had been reports of horrible modulation again or even absence. At least the frequency is still unrepaired (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 15495, Feb 22 at 1352, good signal in Vietnamese monolog, what? 1358 VR IS and off, scheduled as 250 kW, 280 degrees via TINIAN at 1315-1400. So it`s not only from SMG that VR signals spray out in totally unwanted direxions.

** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Feb 21 at 2053, ZBC is poor-fair with hilife music, 2057.30 brief announcement over music which continued a bit more until cut off abruptly at 2057:47* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)